Got this from our local utility company today after I requested some information...
"It is against our Company policy to provide maps of our facilities & right of ways to outside parties. You may have received these in the past, but this is no longer our practice."
I called about this and she says that it applies to ROW and utility plates now. The problem is that we always get an all clear from Dig Safely even if we are looking at gas valves in the field...we usually call and get the plates to map the lines.
This should be fun going forward...
File your request as "agent for the owner" and I suspect they'll have to comply.
Yeah, just spoke to another guy who called me back after seeing her message. He said that he gives out the information he has (no ROW just line info) and that the woman who sent me the email should not have included his information in there. He said that if you request as agent of the owner they have a legal obligation to comply regardless of what she said or what the general company policy is...He sounded pretty annoyed with her...
Tom
and tell her that the plural of "right of way" is "rights of way".....:-D
Sounds exactly like the new BNSF reply to requests for ROW location maps.
Send them letters on behalf of your client telling them that you believe they don't have ownership of the land they occupy next to your client's property, and to please remove their rails as your client is going to start building an addition next week.
Or maybe a simpler version where you show that you think they only own 25 feet (vs. 50) and that you are going to build into that extra area)
I bet they might find their deeds and maps then.....;-)
(I haven't done this and am only semi-serious, but we did have a similar situation where we couldn't get the railroad map from the railroad company, and we eventually showed their right-of-way width at what we thought was correct based on some old information, and where we wanted an easement on their property. We got a quick response to that; with them showing us proof of what they owned. They can figure it out when they have to.)
Seems that water authorities will no longer send maps of facilities but will mark out on the ground. Go figure. This is the Post 9-11 era.
